Michael Blackburn (born 27 May 1970 in

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

) is an Australian Olympic medallist, sailor and coach. He is well known for his crossing of

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

in a Laser dinghy. He did so on 9 March 2005 in a record time (for sailing) of 13 hours 1 minute. In March 2005, he was ranked 3rd in the world in the Laser, behind Robert Scheidt of Brazil and Paul Goodison of Great Britain, and ahead of Mark Mendelblatt of the United States. Blackburn also won the 2006 Laser World Championships in Jeju, Korea. He placed 9th at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He won a bronze medal in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney, Australia. Blackburn has coached three Gold medalists in three Olympics: He was coach of Australian Olympic Gold medalist Tom Slingsby in the Laser class at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London. He followed this by coaching

Tom Burton Thomas Burton (October 14, 1961 – March 29, 2010) was an American professional wrestler, also known by his ring name Tom Davis, who competed in North American regional and independent promotions during the 1980s and early 1990s including the Un ...

to gold in the Laser class at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. In 2021, he coached Matt Wearn to Gold in the Laser class at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. In 2016 and 2019, he was named Coach of the Year at the Australian Institute of Sport Performance Awards. Outside of sailing, Blackburn has a PhD in Human Movement Studies and was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder.AIS at the Olympics

References

External links

* * *
Sports Mind Skills products

1970 births Living people Australian male sailors (sport) Laser class world champions Olympic sailors for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in sailing Sailors at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Laser Sailors at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Laser Sailors at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Laser Australian Institute of Sport sailors Sportsmen from New South Wales Sailors (sport) from Sydney Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics World champions in sailing for Australia 20th-century Australian people 21st-century Australian people {{Australia-yachtracing-bio-stub